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Posted on 06/21/2005 9:28:25 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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When Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, it opened a heated debate about the limits of freedom in a free society.  Ironically, as senators celebrated the freedom they had won from Britain, they approved a sedition bill that made it illegal to publish or utter any statements about the government that were "false, scandalous and malicious" with the "intent to defame" or to bring Congress or the president into "contempt or disrepute." This bill, seemingly a violation of the Constitution's First Amendment free speech protections, had a chilling effect on members of the Republican Party and its leader, Thomas Jefferson, who admitted that he feared "to write what I think." Support for this restrictive legislation had grown out of Federalist belief that the young nation was facing its gravest crisis yet, in the possibility of war with France and the spread of anti-immigrant feeling. The new law violated the beliefs of many Republicans, who regarded Federalists as reactionary defenders of privilege intent on bringing back the monarchy. Federalists saw their Republican opposites as irresponsible radicals eager to incite a social revolution as democratic as the one that had torn through France. Nothing divided Federalist from Republican more than their response to the French Revolution. Republicans applauded the revolutionaries' destruction of aristocratic privileges, the overthrow of the monarchy, and the implementation of constitutional government. Yet, Federalists saw the same dramatic changes as the degeneration of legitimate government into mob rule, particularly during the bloody "Reign of Terror" when "counterrevolutionaries" lost their lives on the guillotine.  John Adams Federalist fears deepened as they watched the new French republican government encourage wars of liberation and conquest in Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, and the Italian peninsula. Rumors were rampant in 1798 about a possible French invasion of America, one that allegedly would be supported by American traitors and a population of French émigrés that had grown to more than 20,000. The nation's rapidly growing immigrant population deeply troubled Federalists. One Pennsylvania newspaper argued that "none but the most vile and worthless" were inundating the country. William Shaw, the president's nephew, arguing that "all our present difficulties may be traced" to the "hordes of Foreigners" in the land, contended America should "no longer" be "an asylum to all nations." Federalists worried about the 60,000 Irish immigrants in the new nation, some of whom had been exiled for plotting against British rule. These malcontents, they argued, along with French immigrants, and a sprinkling of British radicals like the liberal theologian and scientist Joseph Priestley, presented a grave challenge to the nation. The Federalists feared that the extremist ideas of the dissenters would corrupt and mobilize the destitute. The British government, even more terrified than the Americans that ideas from the radical French regime might spread, had been at war with France for five years, trying to contain it. Both nations had seized neutral American ships headed to their enemy's ports. President Adams initiated a two-pronged plan to stop the French from seizing any further ships. He sent three emissaries to negotiate with the French government, and he worked to push bills through Congress to increase the size of the navy and army. Federalist revulsion at anything associated with France reached a peak in spring 1798 when word arrived in Philadelphia that three French agents, identified only as X, Y, and Z, had demanded a bribe from the American diplomats before they would begin negotiations.  Abigail Adams Insulted by the French government, convinced that war was inevitable, and anxious over a "dangerous" alien population in their midst, Federalists in Philadelphia were ready to believe any rumor. They saw no reason to doubt the warning in a letter found outside the president's residence in late April. It supposedly contained information about a plot by a group of Frenchmen "to sit [sic] fire to the City in various parts, and to Massacre the inhabitants." Hundreds of militiamen patrolled the city streets as a precaution, and a special guard was assigned to the president's home. John Adams ordered "chests of arms from the war-office," as he was "determined to defend my house at the expense of my life." In such a crisis atmosphere, Federalists took action to prevent domestic subversion. They supported four laws passed in June and July 1798 to control the threats they believed foreigners posed to the security of the nation and to punish the opposition party for its seditious libel. Two of these laws represented the Federalist effort to address perceived threats from the nation's immigrant groups. The Alien Enemies Act permitted the deportation of aliens who hailed from a nation with which the United States was at war, while the Alien Friends Act empowered the president, during peacetime, to deport any alien whom he considered dangerous. Although some historians acknowledge that there were legitimate national security concerns involved in the passage of the two alien acts, others conclude that the two additional pieces of legislation were blatant efforts to destroy the Republican Party, which had gained many immigrant supporters.  Thomas Jefferson The Naturalization Act extended the residency requirement for citizenship from five to 14 years. For a few politicians, such as Congressmen Robert Goodloe Harper and Harrison Gray Otis, even this act was insufficient. They believed that citizenship should be limited to those born in the United States. Apart from its limitations on speech, the Sedition Act, the last of the four laws, made it illegal to "unlawfully combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or measures of the government." While the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution established that Congress couldn't pass laws "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble," there had been little discussion about the amendment's precise meaning since its adoption seven years earlier. In 1798 many Federalists drew upon Commentaries on the Laws of England written by Sir William Blackstone--the man considered by the framers of the Constitution to be the oracle of the common law--for their definition of liberty of the press. Blackstone wrote, "liberty of the press . . . consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications." However, if a person "publishes what is improper, mischievous, or illegal, he must take the consequences of his own temerity." In other words, if a person spoke or wrote remarks that could be construed as seditious libel, they weren't entitled to free speech protection
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RunninSpankenTruppen
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So, you can't use a crowd as a bathing suit. What about a thong?
:-)
Only when it came time to get my boarding pass.
Only when it came time to get my boarding pass.
In the beginning, the SCOTUS Justices also rode circuit to function as trial judges since the inferior federal courts hadn't been formed yet.
Thank the Lord this administration isn't acting like that in Iraq and Afghanistan.
050618-N-5313A-091 Persian Gulf (June 18, 2005) - A Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC), assigned to Assault Craft Unit Four (ACU-4), prepares to enter the well deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3). Kearsarge and embarked ACU-4 are currently on a regularly scheduled deployment to support Maritime Security Operations in the Persian Gulf. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Sarah E. Ard (RELEASED)
050505-N-3093M-004 Atlantic Ocean (May 5, 2005) - Members of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two (SDVT-2) prepare to launch one of the team's SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDV) from the back of the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Philadelphia (SSN 690) on a training exercise. The SDVs are used to carry Navy SEALs from a submerged submarine to enemy targets while staying underwater and undetected. SDVT-2 is stationed at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va., and conducts operations throughout the Atlantic and Southern, and European command geographic areas of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Photographer's Mate Andrew McKaskle (RELEASED)
050323-N-7615S-027 San Diego, Calif. (Mar. 23, 2005) - The Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Salt Lake City (SSN 716) underway after departing Naval Submarine Base Point Loma, Calif., to conduct routine exercises in the Pacific Ocean. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Danielle M. Sosa (RELEASED)
The Acts, along with a couple of other mistakes, probably cost Adams a second term. Of course, it didn't help that he broke with Hamilton and the High Federalists, splitting his own party.
Good morning Aeronaut.
((Hugs)) EGC.
Thanks PE's stand in. :-)
Good afternoon feather.
Good afternoon Mayor.
I know something you don't. :-)
Geez e pete, sounds like a mess. You'll be mighty glad to get back home!
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